Life Through My Lens
My parachute is purple: (With apologies to Sister Estelle) A book report that is thirty-five-years overdue.
It was 1989 and, looking back, my parachute was crimson. The ink on my Bachelor of Science degree in Biology had been dry a year and my teaching certificate had just arrived in the mail (the extra-postage-required, this-could-take-a-month kind of mail). I thought it...
If your backpack sets off the seatbelt alarm, you’ve got too much baggage.
As I do every morning, I got in my Jeep yesterday, buckled up, and drove off. I was maybe a block from the house when the seatbelt alarm went off. I jammed the tab in with no effect. I unbuckled and re-buckled. Nothing. And then I looked in the passenger seat where my...
Start acting like a baby and take that first step!
Join me in acting like a big baby: Take a step toward what you want.
Even when it is scary, do it anyway.
Embrace yet.
Let go of the fear of appearing awkward or foolish.
Accept the crooked line as the perfect path for you.
Learn from falling down.
Use what you have and reach out for support.
Celebrate every moment—big and small—toward your goal.
She was a collector.
She was a collector.
For hours on end, she would scour old barns with half-blind widows
who didn’t need a computer to know where she put that compote with the hobstar base
or dusty store fronts converted from grocery stores no one needed anymore…
The Detours are the Path
This was not the plan. I had a plan. If you know me personally, you know it was a solid plan. Spreadsheets were made. Gantt charts catalogued the aggressive but manageable timelines of key activities and their dependencies in an intentional array of colors. Resources...
Seven things I learned about leadership from camping with my dad
In the 1970s, my father owned an Army surplus oilskin tent. In my three-foot-tall memory, it slept ten people. I didn’t even know hotels were an option until I was in high school. Growing up in Washington State, I spent many rainy nights—and more than a few rainy...